


The Super Villains' Daughter

by Screaming_at_an_Empty_Room



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, Betrayal, Completed, Investigation, Original Fiction, Revenge, Superheroes, Supervillains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 18:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18555133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Screaming_at_an_Empty_Room/pseuds/Screaming_at_an_Empty_Room
Summary: The story of Erica, a girl who finds out that her brother is the kidnapped child of superheroes, and that her parents are villains. Years later she is the best agent in the Villain Suppression Unit, and hates everything to do with superheroes. So of course she isn’t pleased when she is paired with the strongest man alive, especially because she knows him. But with even darker parts of her past surfacing again, she will have no choice but to join forces and save the world.





	1. Chapter 1

“I don’t think the tablets are as effective as they used to be. They won’t suppress his superpowers for much longer.”

My brother Henry and I stared at each other in shock, unsure of how to react to this overheard conversation. We had just been trying to sneak down to raid the fridge for a midnight snack. It was not our plan to come across our parents discussing Henry’s medication. 

He had always been sickly. They told us he had a poor immune system and required medications to stay alive. Henry was always weak and tired. I would have never suspected that he wasn’t actually sick. 

We had always been different, despite being fraternal twins. He was kept inside, away from potential infections, while I ran around, playing in the dirt and scraping my knees. He was pale and thin, with delicate, fragile features framing bright green eyes. I was tanned from the sun, all rough edges and sharp angles. Most people who saw us together did not realize we were related, much less twins. I didn’t care. I was his sister, his protector, he was my best friend.

I held his hand in mine, nervous sweat making our grip slip. His eyes were wide and nervous, a mirror of my own. He mouthed a single word, afraid to make a sound. 

_Superpowers?_

I shook my head, I was just as clueless as him. Our mother started talking again. We listened further. 

“Once he shows signs of his powers, even an idiot will be able to tell whose child he is.”

Henry’s hand tightened on my own. It was just too much to comprehend. 

“It’s too late to regret it now, dear. When we took him from them, it effectively crippled their heroic activities. It was the best move we’ve ever made against them!”

_No._

I shrunk back against the wall, holding the boy I always thought was my brother tightly against me. He didn’t push me away, but clung just as tightly to me. 

He was the child of superheroes? He was kidnapped? What about me? 

My mother sighed, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag on it. It struck me as odd. I didn’t even know she smoked. 

Guess there was a lot I didn’t know.

“This is why I said we should have just killed him from the start.”

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise up at her cold, detached tone. 

“Well we cant now.” My father sighed. “Erica’s attached to him. She thinks he’s her real brother.”

Mother didn’t seem impressed. “She’ll get over it. She needs to toughen up, if she’s going to get into the family business.” 

“…” there was a awkward silence. I pulled at Henry’s hand trying to put distance between him and the people who were supposed to take care of us. 

“I guess you’re right.” At Father’s defeated tone my calm broke, I yanked Henry‘ arm and ran up the stairs. We sat on the floor, panting for breath. Looking up, I saw an unfamiliar icy chill within my brother’s eyes. 

“Are you okay?” I reached out a hand to touch his cheek, but he pulled away. I felt a splintering pain in my chest and hung my head. 

“…don’t cry.” 

His voice was still cold, but he was warm as his arms wrapped around me in a tight hug. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying before he said it, I wiped at my face, but it was no use, new tears just replaced the old. 

“We have to escape.” I forced to the words out. “We’ll slip out tonight, find your real parents…” 

“Erica.” His face was sad. A bad premonition came over me, but I kept pushing forward. 

“They won’t look for us until morning, if we leave now we’ll have a six hour head start…”

“Erica!” He looked like he was about to cry. I trailed off, my voice breaking with tears. 

“… Please…” I shook my head, not wanting to hear his next words. 

“I have to go without you.”

Pulling away, I glared at him. “So you’re leaving me with the psychotic villain kidnappers?”

“They’re your real parents. If you go they can claim you ran away, or were kidnapped. The law would be on their side. The police would help look for us. But if it’s just me… they might not risk it.”

I felt betrayed. He reached out for my hand, but I pulled it back, avoiding him. 

“Erica.” It came out as a sigh. 

“Go. I’ll delay them as long as I can.” 

He hesitated a moment too long. I grabbed a bag and packed it full of clothing, toiletries and all the cash I had hidden under my bed. Pushing the bag into his arms, I simply repeated: “Go.” 

With another soft sigh he nodded and moved towards the window. 

For a long moment we stood there, staring at each other. He was the other half of myself, my best friend, my twin brother. 

He was a stranger. 

“I’ll come back for you.” 

With a soft promise, he slipped out through the window.

I waited until he was gone before crying myself to sleep. 

* * *

**Years later.**

“Have you heard, Erica took down another villain lair.”

“That’s the third one this month! Does she ever take a break?”

“I heard she has a personal vendetta against supervillains. She even turned in her own parents at sixteen years old!”

I strode down the hallway, ignoring the two junior agents as they shushed each other loudly once noticing my presence. I had been at the villain suppression unit for 5 years now, I was used to the rumors and odd stares. After all, as the daughter of two of the worst supervillains of all time, I wasn’t the typical recruit. 

I walked into my captain’s office, sighing at the angry look on his face. 

“What did I do now?” I stretched out on the chair in front of his desk, ignoring his snort of disapproval as I propped my feet up on his desk. I knew he wouldn’t fire me. He wouldn’t dare. I was the best agent they had. 

“You can start making excuses now.” His voice was strained, coming out through clenched teeth. 

“For what? The raid went perfectly!”

He reached out, pushing my feet off his desk. 

“For what? How about how one of the villains broke an arm ‘climbing out a window to escape’?”

I shrugged. “Seems reasonable.”

“There are no windows on the that floor.”

”Oh, well I guess I made a new one.” I grinned, remembering throwing the villain in question through a wall. That had been fairly satisfying. 

“How about how the Hero Assistance Unit showing up an hour late?”

“I know, how unprofessional of them.” 

He ignored my fake disapproval. “Someone hacked into their GPS and gave them the wrong coordinates.” 

I couldn’t help but laugh “Who would do such a terrible thing?!” 

“Shut up.” The captain glared at me.  “You cause me enough headaches, but at least I’m used to it. If you weren’t so damn effective I would have fired you years ago.” Standing up, he began pacing the room. “But now, I hear the Hero Unit requested you as a senior agent, and you told them to stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine.”

He sat back down with a sigh. “That job pays three times as much as this one, and you work about half the hours. What do you have against heroes, that you’re so set against working with them?”

I stared at him with some surprise. The captain had never asked me about my personal life before. He only cared about results. 

“Why don’t I like heroes?” My voice was soft, my eyes looking past the dark office into a memory of a pale, sickly boy.

_I’ll come back for you._

I shook my head. “I just don’t trust anyone.” 

There were a few moments of awkward silence. 

“You can’t live like that.” He sounded resigned.

“Watch me.”

“No. You’re being reassigned.” The captain pulled out a paper and started scribbling furiously on it. “We have a new hero liaison coming to the VSU later today. You’re the only one without a partner, since you put Greg in the hospital.”

“Can you blame me? I told him to keep his hands to himself. I’m ten times more efficient without him, anyways.”

“We have a process for a reason…”

I cut him off, irritated. “So you’re going to make me babysit this tights-wearing goody two shoes just because I don’t like to play nice with the other units?”

“Just do it, Erica.” He rubbed his forehead, groaning. “You owe me.” 

 _Damn._  He was right. I did owe him. 

“Fine. But he better not slow me down.” 

The captain grinned. “He’s the strongest and fastest man alive. I don’t think it will be a problem.”

* * *

 

It was time to pick up the superhero.

Irritated, I watched my watch and tapped a foot, keeping an eye out to the front doors of the Hero Assistance Unit building. I didn’t want to go inside, it never turned out well. 

There were two branches of government that dealt with individuals with super powers. The first was the Hero Assistance Unit. Their main focus was working with super heroes: developing gadgets, tracking disasters, transportation, finances, etc. They worked with the good guys; focused solely on helping the heroes do their job. 

The second was my unit, the Villain Suppression Unit.  The lesser funded, disliked, hidden in the corner unit that focused on the darker side of superpowers. We tracked villains, took down their infrastructure, raided their lairs. It suited me. I turned in my unconscious parents with all the evidence I had gathered over the six years since discovering they were supervillains. They got life in prison. I got emancipated as a reward. I joined the unit as soon as I was old enough, and threw everything I had into taking supervillains down. No matter how many I arrested, however, it wasn’t enough. 

It would never be enough. 

The sound of the doors opening broke me from my daze. My head snapped up, focusing on the pair of figures walking towards me. 

One was Greg, my former partner. After he tried to put his hand up my shirt, and I sent him to the ICU, he was subsequently recruited to the HAU. Lowering my opinion of the unit further in general. He grinned at me, immediately causing my head to hurt. 

“If it isn’t the number one violent agent of the VSU.” He kept his hands securely in his pockets, I noticed. “Haven’t they locked you up yet? “

I started to reply, but then, all of my attention, my entire being became completely focused on the man standing next to Greg. 

A tall man dressed in black. His appearance was average, the type of person that you wouldn’t look at twice on the street. His hair was a little too long, hanging in front of his eyes…

His eyes. 

Bright green, intelligent, and heartbreakingly familiar. 

He smiled, the expression feeling like a knife in my heart. 

“Long time no see, Erica.” 

Henry, the boy I grew up with. The one who I had thought was my brother, until an overheard conversation destroyed my life.

I stared silently at him, trying to process my shock. I knew he had become a superhero, but I had thought he was still out of the country. I never would have suspected that he would be the liaison to the VSU. I thought it would be pawned off on one of the less powerful ones, the ones they wouldn’t miss. Not one of their top guys…

I had apparently been silent too long. Henry shook his head and reached a hand towards my face. 

“Nothing to say after all these years? Maybe we should…”

I stepped around his outstretched hand and punched him in the face. 

 _Shit._  I felt a bone in my hand break on contact. Nursing the injured digits, I backed away from both of them. 

“Are you okay?” Henry looked concerned. 

“Stay away. Don’t talk to me. And Greg? Do me a favor and drop dead before I help you do so.”

Both of them ignored my words and stepped closer. I sighed, drew my weapon, and shot them with darts. 

They both fell down to the ground, stunned. 

“Paralysis darts, you’ll recover in 30 minutes.” I holstered my gun, and headed towards the nearest hospital to get my hand splinted. 

* * *

The next morning, I hadn’t spent two minutes in the building before I was called into the captain’s office. I wasn’t surprised; I had ignored his calls all night. What did surprise me was Henry’s presence in the room. 

“You’re lucky I don’t fire you.” Was my captains greeting for me. 

“I didn’t throw anyone through a wall this time.”

The captain was almost foaming at the mouth. “You drugged a hero and a HAU agent in broad daylight and left them paralyzed on the street.”

“Like I said.” I shrugged, carefully not looking at the hero sitting in the corner. “I showed restraint.” 

A low chuckle could be heard from the corner of the room. I ignored it. I didn’t need his approval. 

“This is Jarrod, also known as the Indestructible Man. He will be your partner for the next three weeks.”

“Nice to meet you.” A slim hand reached out to shake mine.

 _Jarrod? Not Henry?_ I guess Henry might have been a fake name that my parents had given after kidnapping him. I shrugged off the new piece of information, 

just as I ignored the hand hanging in the air. He silently retracted it.

“Erica…” the captain growled out a warning. 

“It’s fine.” Jarrod smiled and shook his head, indicating he wasn’t offended. “I understand.”

I snorted derisively, and walked out of the office, not caring if he followed or not. 

_He understood? Not even close._

* * *

 

“I get that you’re mad at me.” As we walked towards my car, Jarrod talked fast, as if hoping to get out his explanation before I could talk. “I know I promised to come back for you, and I never did. It was complicated…”

I stopped, smiling, feeling a brief flash of enjoyment when he backed away nervously. “No. It’s very, very simple. You didn’t come back. I survived. End of story. We have nothing to do with each other once this partnership ends in a few weeks.”

His brow wrinkled. “But…”

“No buts. You aren’t my real partner, my brother, my boyfriend or even a friend. You’re a distant acquaintance at best. One that I would prefer to keep as distant as possible. Alright?”

“If that’s what you want…” he nodded slowly, looking troubled. 

“Good, now that we’ve settled that, let’s get moving.”

I got into the car and started it up, forcing Jarrod to scramble into the passenger seat next to me.

“Where are we going?”

I grinned. “Where else? Some hole in the wall bar to beat information out of minions.”

* * *

 

“I really don’t know anything.” The tattooed man sweated bullets as he looked back and forth between us. 

I patted him on the back gently. “Don’t worry. I believe you, though thousands wouldn’t.”

“Really?”

“No. Now start talking or I’ll start taking body pieces off.”

He looked up, panicked, at Jarrod who shrugged. “Don’t look at me, she’s in charge.”

“Poor guy, did they team you up with the Demon Witch on your first day.” The minion shook his head. “Get out before she kills you.” 

I idly flipped a knife between the fingers of my good hand. “You’re ignoring me, Spike. You know how I get when I feel ignored.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Okay I’ll talk, just put the knife away!”

Jarrod chuckled. “They call you the demon witch?”

“Only the ones who are tired of living.” My tone wasn’t friendly.

“Point taken.”

“Tell me what’s going on with the villain raids.” I kept my attention on the suspect. 

“What about them?” Spike was trying to be stubborn. I brought my hand and the knife closer to his face. 

“How do you guys keep getting ahead of the raids in time?”

“Well…” He delated a few moments. 

“I know you have a mole, I just need to know which branch.”

“You know?!”  He shook his head. “No wonder you’ve been so sucessfful lately. The bosses have been crapping bricks all day.” 

I grinned, and he leaned away further. “Happy to ruin their day. Now… Which.  Unit?

“The Hero Assistance Unit.”

I sat down, rubbing my head with a sigh of relief. _I was right._

“Can I go?

“Almost, just one more thing. I’ve been seeing signs of new big things going down behind the scenes.  Is there a big name back in town?”

Spike froze. “You promise you guys won’t rat me out?”

“Have I ever?” I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t get it.” He glared at me. “Everyone has their breaking point, and these guys pretty much define it for most people.”

“Stop stalling.” I didn’t have to threaten him, he knew I was capable of it. 

“The Shadow Couple.” 

Three simple words, but every else faded into nothingness. 

_**I was twelve years old again. Covered in blood, only some of it mine.** _

_**“Again.” My mother commanded, her voice cold.”** _

_**“I can’t move, my arm and leg are broken.”** _

_**“Try harder.”** _

__

_**I was forteen, the taste of blood in my mouth. “Why did you have to kill him?”** _

_**My father’s expression didn’t change. “Because he was useless.”** _

_**“What if I’m not useful?”** _

_**“Then I’ll kill you too.”** _

__

Years of pain and torture, of blood and death and my mind being forcibly reshaped to think like a villain came back to me all at once. I vaguely heard Henry/Jarrod shouting at me, pulling at my hand. 

Slowly I focused in to realize I had pressed a gun to Spike’s head. His face was pale, his eyes were bulging with fear. 

“They are in prison for life.” I spat the words out. He flinched backwards and shook his head. 

“I’ve seen them with my own eyes. They’re back out.”

“…” I kicked his chair out from under him. When he fell on the floor, I picked him up by his collar, putting his face next to mine. 

“Talk about this to anyone else, and you will wish that I had killed you.” 

With that I strode back towards the car. 

“Wait, Erica!” My temporary partner was confused. “Wasn’t he talking about your parents?”

“What do you think?” I was already texting the captain.  _Had he known?_

“I mean, I know you’re angry, but it’s not the end of the world, we can capture them again and put them away.” 

I chuckled, getting into the car. “Not the end of the world, huh? You obviously didn’t know them well.”

“I mean, they kept me for 10 years without hurting me, how bad could they be?”

With my good hand I  grabbed his collar, pulling him closer, With my splinted hand I parted my collar, revealing 3 scars on my left pectoral. Old bullet wounds. They throbbed with remembered pain. 

“Not that bad huh? You should have stuck around for the good stuff.”

His eyes were wide. “When did they?” 

“8 hours after you left.” I released him, adjusting my collar and turning towards the road. 

“Wait… you were ten years old!” 

“I was.” 

“They shot  a child.”

“Among other things.”

“…” There was a pregnant pause. 

“I’ll help you take them down.”

“I don’t need it.”

He thought it over. “I do have one thing you don’t”

“Superpowers?” 

“Besides that.” He laughed. “I have access to the traitor in the HAU. If we take that person down, I’m sure they can lead us to your parents.”

I thought it over, it wasn’t a terrible idea. I still hated it. 

“I’m in charge.” 

“Obviously.”

“This partnership is only temporary.”

He nodded. “Good enough for now.” He stuck out his hand to shake for the third time since we had met. 

I hoped I wouldn’t regret this. I sighed and shook his hand slowly, ignoring the warmth of his palm against mine. 

“Let’s go.”

And so I drove on, unsure of what the future would hold. This partnership was a bad idea. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust anyone. But I didn’t have too much of a choice. I needed to find my parents and take them down, before they could do something ridiculous like destroy the world. 

I stared at the road ahead, trying desperately to push thoughts of the past behind me. 

It was time to get to work.


	2. Chapter 2

##  **ERICA**

**_It was still dark out when my bedroom door opened._ **

**_“Sweetie?” My mom’s face was smiling, even as her eyes were coldly searching the room. “Where’s your brother?”_ **

**_I forced my face to keep calm, pretending to be sleepy and confused. “I don’t know, I think he went to the bathroom?”_ **

**_She disappeared briefly, I could hear her knocking on the bathroom door. I stayed under my covers, trying to remember to breathe as my heart beat loudly in my chest. Just this morning I had thought of them as nice, normal people. Maybe a little more cold and distant than other children’s parents, but definitely not villains._ **

**_Not the kind of people who kidnapped other people’s children._ **

**_Or the kind who casually talked about killing my brother Henry. Even if he wasn’t really my brother._ **

**_It didn’t take long for my mother to return. This time she wasn’t smiling. My father stood behind her, his arms crossed, casually leaning against the door frame. Blocking the only escape route._ **

**_Click._ **

**_I felt the cold nuzzle of the gun in my mothers hand press against my chest. Terrified, frozen into place, I stare up into her uncaring eyes._ **

**_“Let me ask you again, dear… Where. Is. Henry?_ **

* * *

I woke up with a gasp, staring into the darkness with wide panicked eyes. My hand had already grasped the gun that I kept under my pillow and was pointing it with practiced ease.

But there were no enemies here to fight. 

My heart beating, my face dripping with cold sweat, I systematically searched the room, checking my small house’s defense system. Everything was intact. I was alone. 

I put my gun on the bedside table and sat down with a loud sigh, the worn mattress sinking under my weight. 

I was alone.

I was safe. 

No one, not even the Captain, knew my address.  I had spent years crafting the defenses, not even Villain Suppression Unit Security experts could break something I wanted to stay locked. And of course, I had never brought anyone back here. Never. I wouldn’t let anyone even see this place, much less welcome them inside. 

I didn’t trust anyone. It was safer that way. 

I rested my head in my hands, shaking.  _Why this dream again? Why tonight of all nights?_

But of course I knew why. Hearing that my parents had escaped had been a bigger shock than I realized. So far it had been kept secret, even the captain had been unaware of it, but we confirmed it with the National Villain Prison. 

They were loose again. 

I rubbed my shoulder, the old wounds in my chest wall throbbing with remembered pain. The morning my parents had discovered that Henry had escaped was the day they discarded their masks, stopped pretending to be decent people. It was the day my life had descended into Hell. 

But losing my trust in people? That had taken years. It wasn’t a single moment. There was no epiphany when I finally realized that my “brother” was never going to keep his promise and come back for me. No bright shining light bulb in my head saying that I could only depend on myself if I wanted to survive. 

It was a creeping, tortuous grinding down of that bright shining trust, a slow decay, until even I couldn’t remember when I finally lost hope. 

And now he was back. 

Smiling, laughing, acting like the past had never happened. 

It made me want to hurt him. 

All the more painful because I could see the boy I had loved as the only family member on this earth looking out through his eyes. It would have been easier if he had died. At least then I could have pretended that he hadn’t forgotten about me, left me to rot and suffer at the hands of psychotic killers who spent every waking moment trying to mold me into a perfect successor of their insanity.  

But now I needed him. 

After I refused to join the Hero Assistance Unit, there was no reason for me to be able to infiltrate their office and find the mole. Me walking in alone would only raise suspicions. If I were partnered with Henry… no he went by Jarrod now, I would have access to the traitor. Access to information I needed to take down my parents. 

This time I would kill them. 

Henry’s face flashed through my mind and I groaned, hiding my face once again. I knew why I was willing to put up with this partnership, but what was he getting out of it? Why did he agree to partner up with me? 

I didn’t trust him. 

What on earth was he thinking?

##  **HENRY/JARROD**

**_I was fighting for justice._ **

**_I swung my fist into the face of a nondescript villain, feeling a sense of exhilaration as he went flying through the air into a nearby wall. Even after all these years, after being sick and weak for so long, it was still a wonderful sensation to be strong. To be a hero._ **

**_I had saved someone, a woman tied to a chair. She sat quietly, calmly despite her situation, a bag hiding her face. Was she a kidnap victim? I reached out, pulling off the concealing cloth._ **

**_It was Erica._ **

**_Her face was pale, but her familiar features, the slightly crooked mouth, the small scar over her left eye from when she fell out of a tree she climbed trying to impress me… they were all there. Her eyes hadn’t changed at all from when we were kids: she always looked as if she were studying everything in a room all at once, as if nothing escaped her notice. I often felt she could see beyond my skin and bones, into my very soul. As a kid it made me very scared to ever try to lie to her. I wasn’t worried she would get angry, however. She was my protector, my best friend after all. No, I was scared she would look at me the same way she looked at everyone else: disinterested, wary, and distrustful. I never wanted her to show me those kind of eyes._ **

**_But that was the gaze that studied me now._ **

**_“You never came back.” She whispered to me, every word cutting into my heart, making me stumble and fall to my knees beside her. “You forgot about me.”_ **

**_I reached forward, but my hands couldn’t touch her. “No! It’s not like that! My family… they checked on you! They said you were living a happy, normal life! That if I came back… that your parents would just hurt you…”_ **

**_“You believed them? You promised me…”_ **

**_“But… But I…” My words were choked with sobs, the disappointed expression she wore almost more than I could bear. “I’m sorry! I was wrong!”_ **

**_She shook her head slowly. “It’s too late.”_ **

**_“No, we still have time!”_ **

**_“Too… late…” Her eyes were focused on nothing, red bloomed over her left chest, staining through her shirt, running down her arm and torso and pooling on the floor._ **

**_“NO! ERICA! YOU CAN’T DIE! ERICA!”_ **

* * *

“ERICA!” I sat up in bed, screaming in panic. I looked around the room, confused for a moment, and then relaxed as I recognized familiar surroundings. I had rented this apartment several years ago, but I had made the space my own. Central enough in town to have friends over, while being far enough away from my family for me to have my own space. I took in a deep breath, taking in the wide-open space, the breeze rustling the curtains through the open window, the lights left on in the kitchen. 

I was home. 

I sighed, rubbing my aching forehead with a hand.  _What a terrible dream._  But it wasn’t like I didn’t understand it, my subconscious wasn’t remotely trying to be subtle. 

Of course, I had been planning this reunion for years. Following her progress in the VSU, I had been cheering on each of her victories from the sidelines. She had taken down villain after villain, annihilating lairs and infrastructure, in a way more effective than even most superheroes. I had celebrated when I heard that she would be offered a position of senior agent in the HAU, and began making moves to have her placed on my team. In my head I was planning a happy reunion, one where she understood my reasoning for not coming back for her and told me not to worry too much about it. We would hug, and then it would be just like old times, except now I was strong too, and could watch her back like she had watched mine. 

That delusion came crashing down when she sent the interview request back with the words “PLEASE SHOVE UP ASS” scribbled across it with red pen. The higher ups wanted her fired, but her captain made it disappear through some administrative sleight of hand. She got off with a slap on the wrist, but my dreams of working with my former sister and my childhood hero… well they were in tatters. 

So when I heard they were looking for a VSU liaison, I volunteered… with the request that I be teamed up with Erica. I used all sorts of official sounding reasons. Her arrest record alone made her a good candidate. When her personality was brought up as an objection, I simply remarked that I might have a positive influence on her. That shut up even that overprotective captain of hers. 

As I prepared to meet her outside the HAU, I practiced my speech and my expression for hours. 

_“Hi Erica! I missed you!” Too needy._

_“Hey sis!  I’m all grown up!” Sounded silly._  

In the end I had to wing it, coming up with a casual “Long time no see, Erica.” I smiled, expecting to see her all too familiar smile back. 

Instead she looked at me like I was a stranger. 

No, even worse than that. I could see the recognition in her eyes, as well as a some shock, but both were overwhelmed by the coldness in her gaze. It was a look you would give someone you would rather avoid. The awkward silence lingered between us. 

Confused, worried, I tried to break the ice between us. 

She responded by punching me in the face. 

I was nearly indestructible, part of the powers I inherited from my parents, so of course it didn’t hurt. I heard a bone in her hand break and felt a sharp pain in my chest. 

She told me to stay away, and when I didn’t listen, she left me paralyzed in the street, land walked away without turning back once. 

* * *

I knew I had to apologize. Maybe if I had a chance to explain my situation to her, she would understand. But all of my reasons, all of my justifications and excuses, everything came crashing down as she pulled her collar aside and showed me three small scars on her left upper chest. Bullet wounds. 

They had shot her. 

I had been living safely and happily, while she had been shot and tortured. What else had she suffered, while waiting for me to rescue her? What had I done?

I had fooled myself into believing they wouldn’t hurt their own daughter. I made excuse after excuse. It didn’t matter that my brother told me he checked in on her monthly and she was doing well. My parents convincing me that my presence would cause her danger meant nothing. None of it mattered, because they weren’t the real reason I hadn’t come back. 

The reason I never told anyone, the one I was not even willing to admit it to myself. 

I leaned back in bed, staring up at the ceiling with hopeless eyes. 

_I had betrayed her._

She would never trust me again. I didn’t deserve it. 

_How could I face her tomorrow?_

* * *

##  **ERICA**

I walked into the Captain’s office, not surprised that Jarrod had gotten there before me. He looked a little paler than normal.  _Could invincible superheroes even get sick or tired?_  His gaze met my own, before shifting towards the floor. 

“Coffee?” He held out an extra cup. It smelled divine. I recognized the logo from the new shop downtown. I never splurged enough to pay for it, spending most of my salary on weapons, bribes and new security features for my home, but had often been tempted to walk in through the fancy glass doors.  I shook my head quietly, however, and poured myself a cup of coffee from the broken machine on the side table in the office. It tasted like rubber, but at least it should be safe. 

“…” Jarrod didn’t complain, he simply set the cup on the desk. 

“Idiot.” A big meaty hand reached out and grabbed the cup. The captain tipped his head back and swallowed the scalding hot contents in one gulp. Seeming not to mind, he patted his stomach with obvious satisfaction. “That’s good coffee! Of course, the wife disapproves, says it’ll make my ulcers worse, but I blame about 90% of them on your shenanigans anyways.” 

We both stared at him in shock, it was the first moment I felt in sync with my temporary partner. Disturbed, I cleared my throat and sat down, putting my feet up on my usual spot. 

“Am I in trouble again already?” 

“Don’t test me. I just want to know the plan.” He glared at both of us indiscriminately. “Now that you have serious firepower behind you, I need to know that you’re not going to tear apart the city looking for your parents.” 

Jarrod shrugged. “If she wants me to…” He didn’t look like he was joking.

“Don’t make things worse.” I hissed at him. “Look, our plan is simple. My sources tell me there’s a mole at the HAU.” 

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Really? Did everyone suspect the HAU?” Jarrod seemed surprised. 

I chuckled. “Every raid that I worked joint with the HAU ended up in failure, they had left long before, or only grunts who didn’t know anything would stay behind. But when I fed FALSE info to our ‘allies’” I spread my hands, shrugging. “Then things magically went smoothly.”

“Makes sense.” Jarrod nodded, his eyes once again intently focused on me, making me uncomfortable. “So do you know who it is?” 

“I have suspicions, of course. But I can’t prove anything. If I choose the wrong person, I might tip off the real mole and we lose our window.” 

“So what do we do?” 

I grinned. “Easy. I happen to know multiple locations for the Villain, Death Warden’s newest lairs. We’ll send one address to each suspected member of the HAU, and whichever location packs up and leaves, we have our winner!” 

“Who are you going to tell?” His face was open, he obviously didn’t have any ulterior motives in asking the question.

The Captain laughed. “Show him the list.”

I glared. “Cap… I really don’t think…”

“Show. Him. The. List.” He didn’t give an inch. 

“Fine.” Sighing, I took a small paper out of my pocket and handed it to Jarrod. 

The superhero took it, his fingers abnormally warm as they brushed against my own, and carefully straightened out the paper on the desk in front of him.

“…”

I looked away, drinking my coffee.

“…There are heroes on this list.” He sounded confused. 

“What, you don’t think heroes can be traitors?” I snorted, almost choking on my coffee. “Don’t be naïve.” 

“… I’m on this list.” Now his voice had lost all inflection, seeming mechanical. 

After a long silence, I finally glanced back over at him, surprised to see him staring back at me with a sad gaze. 

“And?” I refused to apologize.

“Do you really think I could work with villains, after what happened to me?” His voice was strained; he was obviously upset and trying to hide it.

I didn’t bother trying to hide anything. “And after what happened to me? Well, I know that anyone can betray you.” 

“…” Again an awkward silence. 

Finally the Captain broke in. “Well! Either way, you are being temporarily trusted by the VSU. Help us find the mole and we’ll strike your name off the list.”  He held out a hand. “Deal?” 

Jarrod shook it. 

“If only it were so simple.” The words were whispered under his breath, but I still caught them. I shook my head, not planning to correct him. He was right. It wasn’t that simple. 

I stood up to leave, and Jarrod mirrored my actions. But as I reached the door…

“Actually, Jarrod? Can I have a word?” The captain called out to him, ignoring my glare. 

With a huff, I slammed the door behind me.  _The boys wanted to talk alone? Fine._ Sighing loudly, I leaned against the wall and waited. I took a sip of my coffee and grimaced. It really did taste awful. 

* * *

We headed out towards the HAU office.  Curious, I was the first one to break the silence. 

“What did the captain want to talk to your about?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.” He replied so quietly it was almost a whisper.

He had spent almost 30 minutes in there, and he wasn’t going to say anything? I sighed, keeping my eyes on the road. 

“How’s your hand?” His voice was still strangely emotionless. 

I held out the limb in question. “Just a hairline fracture. Nothing that VSU advanced splinting tech couldn’t help patch up. As long as I don’t punch any more indestructible people for the next few weeks…” 

He laughed, almost seemingly despite himself. “I’ll try to avoid pissing you off.” 

“Unlikely.” 

“Then I’ll just try to duck faster next time.” 

Now I laughed. “That’s more like it.” 

He had been in a strange mood since he left the captain’s office, this suppressed version of him was weirding me out. Now that he was laughing, the atmosphere was more relaxed. I felt a strange sense of satisfaction…

_Wait._

I shook my head, trying to clear of it the unfamiliar emotion. 

 _He’s not Henry. He’s not family. He is just a random person, your partner Jarrod. You will never see him again after this case._  I silently chanted to myself. 

_**He’s not Henry.** _

Maybe if I said it enough, I would truly believe it. 

* * *

 

“Don’t tell him about it, it’s top secret!” I pretended to sound annoyed. 

“I think we can trust him.” Jarrod was in his element, playing the arrogant superhero to perfection. He swaggered around, posing frequently, checking out his reflection in any and all reflective surfaces. I had a hard time not laughing, especially when I caught the gleeful light in his eye as he hammed it up in front of his coworkers. 

“Won’t they suspect something? “ I had whispered to him a few minutes in. 

“I mostly do international work, they don’t know me very well. Besides, a lot of them DO act like this.” 

And it seemed to work, most of them went a long with it without batting an eye. 

But none more so than Greg. 

“Tell me!” He was practically jumping up and down in his excitement.

“I don’t know…” I eyed my former coworker suspiciously, forcing myself to keep a straight face at his puppy dog expression. 

“Your opinion doesn’t matter.” Jarrod cut me off, turning to Greg with a conspiratorial grin. “So we have this secret raid tomorrow night, and I can use an extra set of hands…”

“I want to help!” Greg’s eyes were sparkling, looking off into the distance, presumably imagining promotions. 

“Great! Here’s the address.” He handed him a slip of paper with a wink, and we moved on. As we turned a corner though, Jarrod pulled me into an empty office. 

“Hey…!” I paused when I saw him doubled over with laughter. 

“Did you see his face?” Jarrod was crying, he was laughing so hard. “I thought he was going to pee himself with excitement.” 

I sighed. “I hate Greg, I really hope its him.”

“No such luck, Erica. “ He wiped his eyes, trying to catch his breath. “There’s no way he’s smart enough to be a double agent.”

“A girl can dream.” I looked out of the office door to make sure no one was listening.

“Hey, if he turns out innocent, I’ll hold him down and let you beat him up again.” 

“I don’t need your help. I’ve already put him in the ICU once.” Cracking my knuckles I smiled grimly at the memory.

“Yeah, but it will be so much easier if he’s not running away. Think of how long you can drag out beating him up.” Jarrod sounded like a used car salesman. I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You’re insane.”

“So says the Demon Witch. “

“What does that make you?”

He grinned. “The Demon Witch’s lackey.”

I cracked up and once we caught our breath, we settled down on some chairs to discuss the rest of our plans. 

“You seriously have a lot of locations of hideouts. What was that, 9 already?” Jarrod shook his head. “No wonder you’re the VSU’s lead agent.” 

“I actually have ten.” I pulled out the address. “But I’ve run through my list already.” 

“Except for me.” His smile faded a bit.

I nodded. “Except for you.” 

He reached out. “Here, if I run into any more HAU guys after work I’ll pass this one off too. “

Shrugging, I handed it to him. I actually knew of five other locations I hadn’t mentioned, but I wasn’t about to divulge all my secrets. 

“Thanks for your help. It made it pretty easy to pass off this information without raising suspicions.” 

His all too familiar bright green eyes stared back at me seriously. “Anytime.” 

“…” There was an awkward pause. 

_**He’s not Henry.** _

I stood up. “Well, I’m heading home.” 

“Do you need a ride?” He followed suit. 

“No, I’m fine.” I wasn’t about to let anyone near my home, least of all him. 

“Ok, well then, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Yep.” I started walking away. 

“Umm… Erica?” His voice was strange, like he was forcing it out.

I turned back. “Yeah?” 

“…” He hesitated a moment too long, then seemed to collapse on himself. “I’ll be grabbing coffee tomorrow again, Besides the ones I’m getting for me and now I guess your Captain, what kind of coffee would you like?” It obviously wasn’t what he originally meant to say, but his face was still hopeful.

…

It wasn’t forgiveness. It was just coffee. 

“Medium roast, sugar, no cream.” 

His smile lit up the room. “Will do!” 

With a sigh I walked away. 

**_He’s not Henry. He’s not…_ **

* * *

 

##  **HENRY/JARROD**

I watched Erica leave, slowly releasing the grip I had on the table nearby. It was dented in, completely damaged beyond repair, but I couldn’t make myself care. 

I really, really wanted to break something. 

I had been sad this morning, but understood when she refused the coffee. I had been surprised, and a little disheartened to know that I had been on her list of suspects for the mole. But nothing, nothing at all could prepare me for what I saw once the Captain held me back in his office. 

Once Erica slammed the door shut, a heavy file was thrown onto the Captain’s desk. 

“Read it.” His face was blank, I couldn’t figure out what was going on, but an uneasy feeling built in the pit of my stomach. All of a sudden I just wanted to run away, hide, and never look at what the contents of that file were. 

_But I didn’t have a choice._

With a sigh I sat back down, and flipped to the first page. 

A picture of a teenage stared back at me. A sixteen year old girl. 

Erica. 

“I was the detective who took her case. She turned in her parents to me. I helped her get herself emancipated, and the whole ordeal earned me this unit, and my promotion. “He shook his head, staring down at the file with a troubled expression. “This file is her case, with all the evidence she submitted. You need to read it.” 

“I don’t think…” I couldn’t imagine Erica being okay with this. 

“I know who you were, what you two meant to each other.” 

“Then you know that she hates me.”

“With good reason.” 

I nodded. “With good reason.” 

“Read it.” 

Unwillingly, I turned back to the pages in front of me.  _I had already seen her gunshot wounds, how much worse could this file be?_  I lifted a trembling hand and turned the page. 

It was so, so much worse. 

I had to pause frequently. It was not overly thick, but each page was filled to the brim with horrific descriptions. Some came with pictures. The things that had been done to her… the things she had been forced to do…

I started dry heaving into the trashcan by the desk. The Captain looked on, his eyes cold. 

“This… How could they… their own daughter?” 

“They wanted her to be a better, more vicious villain than even they had become. Erica was naturally a kind-hearted girl, to twist that into what they wanted… took some creativity. “

The nausea passed, but I threw away my coffee drink anyways. There was no way I was putting anything else into my stomach after that. 

“Why show me this?” I had to know. 

If anything, the Captain’s gaze became even stonier. “Because now you know why she doesn’t trust anyone, why she doesn’t have friends, why she lives in an undisclosed location with better security than the White House.  She was broken, by what they did, but she pulled the pieces back together, and now she’s a damn good agent. One of the best.”

I shook my head to clear it. “Are you asking me to stay away from her?”

His smile was grim. “I’m asking you to not give up on her. You screwed up years ago, but she already hates you less than all her other former partners. You can’t make it up to her, but if by some miracle she forgives you, or lets you into any part of her life…. Don’t screw it up again.”

He stood up, so I did to. 

“Or I’ll kill you.” 

He wasn’t joking.  

“I understand.” Neither was I.

* * *

I had left the office in a terrible mood, which surprisingly Erica had picked up on. It took her less than 2 minutes to push me out of it. It was something she had always done back when we were kids. Whenever I was depressed about being weak or sick, she always was there to cheer me up again. I was surprised to see that part of her hadn’t changed.

But now, I was alone again, and the contents of that file continued to haunt me. I changed direction, no longer heading back to my apartment. As I passed familiar streets and houses, I felt an old sense of weariness fold back over me. I hated it here. My second childhood home, my real parents’ home. 

I passed through the white picket fence, unlocking the front door and entering with only a light knock. Mom and Dad weren’t home. They were on a tour in Italy, enjoying their retirement from Hero life. It was fine. I wasn’t there to see them anyways. 

I searched the house, pausing when I came to the practice room on the first floor.

**_I was thirteen, bruised, hurting from every spare spot on my body. My lip was bleeding, my vision blurry, but still I kept standing._ **

**_I had to get stronger._ **

**_Another punch came, harder and faster than I could follow, it connected with my gut, and I felt myself flying backwards to smack against the wall._ **

**_CRASH!_ **

**_I looked up to my brother posing victoriously, and my father standing to the side with a disappointed expression._ **

**_“Come on, brother! It’s been two years since you stopped taking the suppression pills, and you’re still worthless in a fight even with your powers!”_ **

**_I cautiously stood up, wiping the blood from my face. “I can go again.”_ **

**_“Stop.” My father stepped in, shaking his head. “You’re too weak to train further with Michael.”_ **

**_Too weak._ **

**_As if the words cut my tendons, I felt myself collapse to the ground, broken, bleeding, tired._ **

**_I’d never… be strong enough… to help her._ **

* * *

“Jarrod?” A familiar voice pulled me from my memories. 

“Michael, I thought I would find you here.” I smiled at him, but it was a strained expression. 

Despite being blood related brothers, we had never gotten along. By the time I  had shown up when I was ten, Michael had never wanted an older brother, much less one that was weaker than him. Suddenly sharing his parent’s attention when he had grown up an only child… it must have been a shock. He beat me up frequently, until I finally grew into my full powers at sixteen. When I was strong enough to fight back, all of a sudden my parents felt that our sparring had turned too dangerous and forbade it. I felt cheated, but couldn’t really complain. After all, Michael  was doing me a huge favor. 

Or so I thought. 

“Hey Michael, I have a question for you.” I grabbed a couple beers from the fridge, tossing him one and sitting myself down on the couch. 

“Go ahead.” He sat down nearby, setting his unopened drink on the table. 

Wow, so far only the Captain had been willing to drink something I had given. It really wasn’t my day. 

“When we were growing up, you did me a favor.” I smiled grimly. “One that I paid you all of my allowance to do. “

Michael suddenly looked a little on edge. 

“You were supposed to check up on the girl I had thought was my sister, Erica. You were going to make sure she was doing okay, so that when I was strong enough I could go save her.”

He shrugged. “And?”

“And all those years you told me you had checked on her. That you had used your invisibility power and speed to enter her house and check with her to make sure she was doing okay. You were going to tell her that I was okay, and that I was coming to get her.” I stood up, too tense to stay still. 

“Now I just found out that she grew up tortured and abused, enduring things I wouldn’t have wished on my worst enemy, much less a child. “

Michael shrugged again, an extremely annoying gesture. 

“Why?” Why lie to me? Why pretend she was okay? Why the façade, when he could have just said no?”

“Why?” Michael laughed, “Because you were dumb enough to pay me money and never check that the work was being done. Let it be your first lesson in the world of business. Everyone is out for themselves, brother.” He stood up. “Is that all? I need to go to bed.”

I thought it over. “Actually… there is one more thing…”

* * *

##  **ERICA**  

The coffee tasted just as good as it smelled. Jarrod and I stood in asurveillance room at the VSU, watching a wall of screens. Each camera was pointed at a different hideout, ten in total. 

“So we told them we would be moving around 10 PM. If anyone is a traitor they should start moving their forces or supplies before then.” Jarrod was pacing nervously. I couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Relax, this is the easy part.”

“I HATE waiting!” He complained, sipping on his coffee drink. It looked more like ice cream than coffee. I eyed it, shuddering. 

“What IS that monstronsity?” 

“Iced cappuccino with extra whipped cream…. And maybe a few sprinkles that got on by accident.” 

“You got extra sprinkles too, didn’t you?”  My face distorted as I tried to hold my laughter.”

His shoulders sank. “Yes.” 

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “Why not just drink regular coffee, if it’s going to embarrass you that much?”

He looked at the cup in my hand, and it was his turn to shudder. “Because I have taste buds.”

We both chuckled at that, before turning our attention back towards the screen. 

“Who do you think it will be?” He asked quietly. 

“Nine.” Was my immediate answer.

“I’m telling you, Greg is too stupid…” He paused, staring up at the screen with an odd expression. “There’s movement.” 

I looked up as well, noticing that in one of the screens, boxes and important personnel were being moved out. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. 

“Great, so we do have a traitor!” 

“Seems so.” His voice was flat, angry. I counted screens, realizing something odd. 

“Wait… It’s screen ten… who did we give that address to?” I looked over at Jarrod, and realized… it was the number he had taken and said he would give out. He had obviously given out the address. 

And the identity of that person really hurt him. 

“Jarrod…?” He was staring blankly at the screen, but then soon turned and headed out. “Wait!”

He didn’t pause. Sighing, I shot a tracker onto his back. Once he started up with his unnatural speed, there was no way I would be able to keep up. I followed behind him, moving towards a nice neighborhood in the best part of town. I stopped in front of a normal looking house with a white picket fence, wondering why it looked familiar. 

Than I realized, I had seen it in a picture before. 

It was Jarrod’s childhood home. 

_Oh no._

I crashed into the front door, only to find him kneeling on a strange man’s chest, punching him while shouting, his face red with rage. 

“Traitor!” 

The man was trying to fight back, but obviously having a hard time. “Is this over me not checking up on that stupid girl again? I told you it’s your own fault for believing me when I said that she was doing fine!”

Jarrod stopped, his chest heaving with exertion. “You’re right it was my fault. I didn’t go save her. Not because you told me she was fine. Not because our parents told me it would endanger her.” He paused his face distorted with pain. I recognized the expression, it was the one he had been wearing last night when he wanted to tell me something but chickened out.

“It was because of me. I wasn’t strong enough. I hadn’t developed powers, I couldn’t stand the thought of escaping only to return the same weak little brother who needed her protection. I was too scared and embarrassed to return to her like I promised. So I waited until I was sixteen, when my powers had come in. But by the time I went back to that house…” 

He shook his head, tears in his eyes. “It was too late. She had already grown beyond needing me to save her. It didn’t matter whether or not i was strong. I wasn’t able to save the only person who mattered.”

He let out a sigh, staring back at the man with obvious hatred. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about you being the mole for the Shadow Couple.” 

The man turned pale. “You can’t… you can’t prove that!”

“I gave you the address for the lair that was going to be raided. Only you knew that address. And now it’s being evacuated.” He reared back and punched him again and again. “I should kill you, you worthless piece of…” He was obviously too angry to listen to reason. Getting involved in a fight between superheroes was not a good idea… but…

“Henry! Don’t kill him!” Without meaning to, I ran forward and grabbed his arm. “We need him alive to question him.”

“Erica?!” Immediately he stopped attacking, looking up at me with a sad smile. “I’m sorry.” 

I slapped him, it hurt my hand. “Idiot.” 

Then I couldn’t help it, I gave him a hug. I felt his tears soaking through the fabric over my shoulder. “I’m not going to forgive you, you know.”

“I wouldn’t dare even ask for it.” 

“But let’s take down these bastards.” 

“You got it, partner.” His eyes lit up, his face covered in his grin. 

With that we turned to the half-dead man on the floor. Henry cracked his knuckles. “Now, brother mine, you’re going to tell us how to track down the Shadow Couple.” 

 Now. Now the real hunt would begin.


	3. Chapter 3

##  **ERICA**

**_Dinner was always an uncomfortable affair._ **

**** **_I  pushed the food around on my plate, not feeling all that hungry. Seeing my parents watch me with suspicious eyes, however, I let out a soft sigh and started eating. Even a normal meal like this, simple actions sometimes felt like a hostile confrontation. As they watched me eat, my parents began to try the food from their plates as well. Their shoulders relaxed slowly, and it was almost as if we were a regular family for a moment._ **

**_Of course that didn’t last long._ **

**_“How goes your training, Erica?” My father asked, his gaze lingering on my face as if to study my reaction to his words._ **

**_I paused slightly, my fork hovering in mid air for a moment, before deciding to resume eating trying to avoid any change in my expression._ **

**_“As expected.”_ **

**_What could I say? They broke me, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Ground every part of me into the dirt and made sure that every piece was reshaped into their own image, into that of a super villain. Did they expect me to thank them?_ **

**_My mother spoke up, as if to make up for my reticence. “Erica’s combat abilities are truly exceptional. Her knowledge in poisoning and explosives passable, but improving. The one area where she truly shines however is torture.” The woman smiled, but the expression was frightening when contrasted with the icy look in her eyes. “Her imagination in causing pain without leaving a mark… surpasses even my own.”_ **

**_“Good. Good.”_ **

**_My hand gripped the fork so tightly; I thought the metal might warp in my hand. I forced myself to keep moving, to keep eating, as if nothing was wrong. My shoulder throbbed with remembered pain, but I pushed it from my mind._ **

**_“But of course, there is still… that issue.” My mother spoke up, her tone meaningful.  At these words, a silence fell over the table._ **

**_Her father leaned forward, intently staring at me who continued to eat undisturbed. “You still haven’t learned to kill?”_ **

**_I raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve killed plenty for you. So many that I’ve lost count.”_ **

**_“All villains. All murders, rapists and abusers.” my mother sighed loudly. “We thought to ease you into it dear, but you’ve remained so stubborn about taking innocent lives…”_ **

**_“Who cares about whether or not I kill innocent people?”_ **

**_“I don’t know… how about the police?”_ **

**_I paused, staring quietly at the plate in front of me. Don’t give anything away. Feel nothing. Show nothing._ **

**_My father chuckled. “Did you really think we wouldn’t find out about you researching into the police who are on our case?”_ **

**_‘Maybe I was looking to take them down.”_ **

**_“Sure. And definitely not hoping to cut a deal with them.” He leaned forward, his face twisting into a sneer, “Your hands aren’t as clean as you wish them to be dearest, I wouldn’t be so quick as to trust in a detective to stand by your side.”_ **

**_“But all that changes tonight.” My mother was smiling again. Not a good sign. “Tonight, you either join the family business, all the way. Or…”_ **

**_I took one last bite of my pasta, savoring the flavor. “Or what?”_ **

**_There was no sympathy in either of my parents’ eyes. “Or you’ll die tonight.”_ **

**_“What loving parents!” I smiled, feeling the expression slowly spreading across my face. “As… appealing… as those two options are…” I checked my watch. “I’ll choose option three.”_ **

**_“What do you…?” My father’s face became shocked, and slowly he slumped over. Likewise my mother fell with a heavy thump to the floor._ ** **_They both stared at me with open, accusing eyes._ **

**_I sat back in my chair, closed my eyes and laughed. Rocking back and forth, gripping my sides,  laughing so hard that tears began rolling down my face. It lasted almost uncomfortably long, but after a while I slowed down and stopped. Wiping my eyes, I stood up and quickly searched their bodies for weapons. Seeing them still awake, I chuckled once more._ **

**_“Surprised? You shouldn’t be.” I tied them up, propping them against the wall as I spoke. “You never let me touch your food, but let me grab the dishes. All I had to do was coat our silverware and plates with poison.” I shrugged, settling in a chair across from them, idly turning my mother’s gun in my hands, contemplating. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t a lethal dose. Just enough to paralyze you for the next 24 hrs. Long enough for me to turn you in with the evidence I’ve collected over the last few years. “_ **

**_“…”Father’s eyes were filled with hatred, but he couldn’t disguise the curiosity he felt. I laughed again._ **

**_“You’re wondering how I avoided poisoning myself, since you placed the food on the plates and served them yourself, aren’t you?” I shrugged, pulling out a bottle from my pocket. “I didn’t. I took just as much as you. The difference is, I’ve been poisoning myself slowly for the past 2 years. The amount we all got tonight isn’t near enough to affect me anymore. “_ **

**_Mother’s eyes widened upon seeing the label. Her gaze was questioning, as if wondering if I was crazy._ **

**_“Oh, don’t worry mother. I’m well aware of the long term effects of this poison.” I stretched and went to grab the phone and dial the police department. “Never planned on living long anyways. As long as I take you two down, that’s all that matters.”_**  

* * *

“Erica.” 

Someone was calling my name. Breaking from my reverie as I sat at my desk impatiently tapping on the surface, I looked up at the VSU agent who called out to me. 

I pushed back the memories to the corner of my mind. The day I had betrayed my parents and turned them in. One of my few happy memories of my family. 

I smiled lightly, startling the agent who had been calling for me. It was fairly rare for me to show any emotions, at least any ones other than anger. I tried to remember his name but gave up quickly.

“What’s the matter?”

“The mole is in interrogation room 2, Jarrod wanted me to let you know.”

Quickly the smile faded from my face. 

_Jarrod._

After seeing his confrontation with his brother, I understood him a little better. I could see how a young boy could easily be swayed by his family into not coming back. Easily convinced into thinking I was safe. Deep down, I had always known there would be a rational answer behind his behavior. The gentle kind boy I had known as a child didn’t just disappear into thin air. He just believed the wrong people. 

_It didn’t matter._

He and I had changed. He grew up with heroes and trained to help others. I stayed with monsters and became an even worse one. It was much too late to change that. 

_It was too late for a lot of things._

With a nod, I stood up and headed towards the interrogation rooms. 

* * *

##  **HENRY/JARROD**

“It’s strange to see you on this side of the table.” I rubbed my neck, feeling tired, as I stared at my brother in chains. Michael’s face was bruised, courtesy of the beating I had given him earlier. He seemed fairly unconcerned with the fact that he was in cuffs, sitting calmly with his legs crossed, as comfortable as if he was in his own living room. 

“Had to happen sometime, I guess.” He grinned, and I felt a flutter of unease in my stomach. “Is  _SHE_ coming?”

“Who?”

He leered. “Your partner. I’ve missed her.”

I fought back the urge to punch him again, my hands trembling with the desire of it. 

“Shut up. You don’t know anything about her.”

“Oh, I know a lot more than you do, brother dearest.” He leaned forward. “She’s not some little innocent girl from your childhood. She has blood on her hands.”

I thought back to the folder that the Captain had shown me, shaking my head. I refused to consider his words too closely. No one could make it out of a hell like that without some regrets, and if I had come back sooner… It wasn’t time to dwell on that though. 

“All of that is irrelevant.” I kept my voice emotionless. “All I want to know is where to find the Shadow Couple.”

Michael laughed. “Sorry, don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

“And if I do?”

“You’re going to tell me.”

“What if I don’t?” He leaned back in his chair, looking smug. “What are you going to do, torture me?”

“That’s a great idea!” 

The voice came from the doorway. We both looked up, shocked. Erica stood there, a faint smile on her face. 

“Sounds like you know me pretty well.” She walked over, pulling blinds across the windows in the room. “Did you come by and check on me, like you told your brother you would?”

“…” Michael’s complexion had turned pale.

“Then you must have seen a lot.” She shook her head sadly, taking her jacket off. “You know what I’ve been trained to do, what I’m good at… Exactly what I’m capable of.”

“P-Please…” His voice was a whisper. 

Erica threw her jacket on top of the security camera in the top corner of the room. Blocking its view. She tilted her head, hesitating for a moment at his plea. “’Please’? What a strange word. I wonder if you heard me say that when I was a child. I did… quite frequently.”

“I- I…”

“I wonder what you thought as you were watching me beg and scream from the safety of the shadows….” Her smile widened but her eyes reflected nothing but pain and sorrow. 

“…”

“Jarrod.” 

I jumped at the sound of my name. 

“I need you to step out.” She took a small black case from her pocket and put it on the table between them. Michael seemed to recognize it, shrinking back in his chair, shaking his head back and forth rapidly. 

“I – I don’t know if that’s such a great idea.”

She opened the door and pushed me through it. With my strength, it would have been easy to avoid her, but I let her guide me out. 

“Please, I can’t show you this side of me.” For the first time, I saw a flash of deeper emotion on her face and felt the urge to look away. 

“You can show me anythi…”

“Not this. Not the part of me my parents created.” 

I had nothing to say. She shut the door quietly in my face. 

I slowly walked back into the office, closing doors behind me to mask the sound of the screams. 

* * *

 

I paced back and forth between the desks, too anxious to sit down. I checked my watch again, but only a few more minutes had passed since the last time I looked. It had already been twenty minutes. 

_Should I head back there?_

I thought of Erica’s face when she asked me to leave and shook my head. I barely had gotten her to trust me as a partner and if I broke that now… besides, Michael had brought everything he got on himself. 

_Why had he stood by and watched over all those years? Was he already so far gone that young, to ignore a young girl in danger?_

It just didn’t make sense. 

“Where is he?” A familiar frantic voice called out, causing me to groan with annoyance. I turned towards the rushing couple, a headache already starting to pound at my temples. 

“Hi Mom, Hi Dad.”

My parents were superheroes. The kind everyone looked up to. They saved the world more times than I could count, and did it all while raising a family. To the outside world, they were perfect. 

At least on the surface. 

“Cut the crap, Jarrod.” My father was furious, his face red as he stepped closer, thrusting a finger in my face. “We heard that bitch arrested Michael under false charges, and we want you to get him out. Right. Now.” 

I shook my head. “He was arrested after being caught red handed giving classified information to a super villain group by myself and my  _partner._  He is now being questioned. 

My mother paled. “His lawyer?”

“Declined.” 

“I don’t believe it!” 

At her wails, I frowned. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Mom. I caught him myself, in a sting operation to find a mole within the HAU.” 

She ignored me, “Why are you even working with that… person? You’re a hero, you shouldn’t be with the Villain Suppression Unit!” Looking around at the dilapidated office with a shudder, she added “A bunch of thugs and bullies.”

A nearby agent snorted, but otherwise the entire room ignored the pair. 

“I’m a liaison with the VSU and I’m working with Erica because she’s the best agent they have. “

“I very much doubt that.” My father placed an arm around my mother, his face indignant. “Given who her parents are, she’s more likely to be the mole than someone upstanding like Michael.”

“She has ten times the arrest record he does!” I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“The apple never falls far from the tree.”

“Funny words coming from the mother of a traitor.” Erica had returned, her face calm. She stood next to me, looking up with a sigh. “Sorry for the wait.”

“No problem, but…”

“We want to see our son!” My father was practically spitting with rage. 

Her expression was emotionless. “He’s resting, and refusing visitors.” 

“BULLSH…”My mother lunged at Erica, arms outstretched as if to strangle her, but I stepped in between them. 

“Jarrod! Why are you protecting her?! Have you forgotten who your real family is? I mean, look at her!” My mother stood back, pointing. “She’s practically a super villain herself!”

“…”

I laughed, it came out more like a sob. “Is she really the villain here?”

“…”

Erica grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.”

“Sure, where are we going?”

She grinned, and my heart skipped a beat at the wild look in her eye. “I found them.”

* * *

##  **ERICA**

We snuck up on a warehouse, looking at the patrolling guards carrying large guns. 

“Well, we found  _something._ ” I chuckled nervously. “Let’s just hope it ‘s the right place. “

Jarrod stared at me intently, as if trying to see into my thoughts. “What… what did he tell you?”

“Everything…” I sighed. “Everything I wanted to know and much, much more.”

“Did he say why?”

“I’d… rather not talk about it.” I pushed his disgusting words to the back of my mind, refusing to dwell on them. As it was I would probably have nightmares for months just from listening to his awful insane ranting, on someone relatively more innocent like Jarrod… 

It was better if he never knew the entire truth. 

“Should we call for backup?” He was changing the subject, for which I was grateful.

I sat back, considering it. “Not yet. Let’s try to quietly confirm the presence of the Shadow Couple. Then we call the Captain. If the VSU raids the wrong place, we might tip them off too soon.”

He grinned. “Well, you’re the ‘Villain Lair Raiding Queen’, so I’ll listen to you. “

“I thought I was the Demon Witch?”

“Queen, Witch, close enough, why not keep both titles?”

We stared at each other in silence for a moment, and then laughed. 

“Alright, Get us to the roof, we’ll break through the fire escape door on the third floor.” 

He glanced up at the distance, nodding. “I can make that jump, sure.”

“Carrying me?”

He rolled his eyes. “Super strength, remember?” 

“Alright, then I’m counting on you, Henry.”  I smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

“…” There was an uncomfortable silence, and in a moment of panic I realized what I had called him. “Shoot. Sorry, I mean Jarrod.”

He grinned, reaching over and pulling me into his arms. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind being called Henry.” As he prepared to jump, I heard him mutter. “I liked Henry a lot better than Jarrod anyways.”

He leapt into the night sky, timing it so that neither of the outside patrols were facing our direction. We landed on the roof, with a slight groan at the impact. 

Right in front of another guard. 

His eyes widening, he reached for his walkie-talkie…

Only to be stunned by a quick dart I shot, and slumped silently to the ground instead. 

“Nice.” Henry patted me on the shoulder, an impressed look on his face. 

“I’ve done this a time or two.” 

“So I’ve heard.”

“You still owe me a coffee for saving your butt.” I grinned.

“How is it my fault that there was a guard there? You were the one who said to jump to this location!” 

“Excuses, excuses…” We moved forward, and for once, I didn’t feel uncomfortable with him at my side. 

We disabled the emergency exit alarm and entered from the third floor. 

Everything within the building was dark and quiet. 

“I don’t like this.” I muttered, looking around. 

“Me neither.”

“Feels like a trap.”

We moved into a larger empty room, the carpet of the small office we had entered into giving way to a concrete floor. 

“What do you…”

**BUZZZ!**

A jolt traveled up my legs from the floor, paralyzing me. Stunned, I fell to the floor on my side, hearing Henry fall beside me. He groaned with pain, and although I couldn’t move very well at all, I could talk with some difficulty. 

“Are… okay?” I forced the words past numb lips. 

“…barely.”

Just as he answered, the lights of the warehouse turned on. Almost blinded by the incredible brightness, I blinked rapidly, trying to force my eyes to adjust. There were guards everywhere, their guns pointed straight at us.  

But that wasn’t where my eyes were drawn. 

A middle-aged couple stood in front. Boring looking. Harmless. A couple that looked like the type to call driving to another city “a big adventure.” The last people you would suspect of any wrongdoing. 

But there they were. 

My personal demons, here to drag me back to Hell. 

_My parents._

* * *

##  **HENRY/JARROD**

I recognized them of course. I had thought they were my parents for most of my childhood after all. I tried to move, but whatever they had shocked us with was still working to paralyze us. 

The woman bent down over Erica, a sweet smile on her face. “Hi there, sweetie, we’ve missed you.”

The man chuckled next to her, “Kind of disappointed you never came to see us in prison, kiddo!”

Erica was shaking with rage and fear.  Trying desperately to move, but still unable to, she forced out a few cold words. “Go. To. Hell.”

Her mother frowned prettily. “Now, now. Is that anyway to speak to your parents?”

I wanted to shake my head, to force myself between them… anything to protect Erica from the look of terror that had flashed over her face at the sight of her parents. Despite her fear, her eyes were resolute. 

“Choke and die.”

“Oh, honey, what disrespectful words to say to us after all this time.” The woman bent down, stroking her hair, ignoring the disgust on Erica’s face.

It was too much. 

Using all my strength, I pushed against the floor, trying to reach her…

And only managed to move a few inches. 

That small bit of movement however, attracted their attention like blood to a shark. 

Her father smiled. “Oh, and it looks like you found your long lost brother, Henry!”

The woman moved closer, studying my face with curiosity. “You’ve grown up as well, child. It was so wonderfully cruel of you to escape without our girl, and never come back.”

“She used to cry your name at night.” The man’s eyes drilled into my own. “Praying you would come back for her.”

“She never told us where you went, even after we tortured her.”

He nodded. “Eventually, she was so delirious that all she would do is say your name, over and over again.” Laughing, he added. “We heard you don’t even go by that name anymore, how delightful.”

I felt tears run down my face, unable to look at Erica, wanting to look away from their cruel smiles. I could never undo what I had done to her, the terrible things she had suffered.  How could I…

“I’ve called the cops.” Erica’s voice was calm and steady. 

They turned back towards her. “Impossible, dear, don’t tell lies.”

Her hand slowly opened up, and a panic button fell between her fingers to the floor with a clatter. “Directly to the Captain’s office. I’m sure he’d love to arrest you again.”

“…”

“…”

“How… Disappointing.” 

“We were just about to kill him, did you guess?”

“Still protecting him, after all these years.”

“Never, changes, our daughter.” 

The couple discussed amongst themselves calmly, as if the sound of sirens in the distance weren’t audible. 

“Should we take her with us?”

“Not nearly as much fun.”

“We’ll find them later.”

Erica’s mother bent down again next to me, he face serious. “You’re not a very good brother, you know that?”

“…”

“Did she tell you she’s dying?” She whispered gleefully. 

“…”

“Slowly poisoned herself for two years, just for the chance to turn us in. Has long term effects, she shouldn’t have much longer.” 

“She knows it, but hides it from everyone.”

I couldn’t look away, but I felt Erica stiffen beside me. 

“We have the cure for it, it was our poison after all, we developed it. But, she refuses to ask for our help.”

Erica spat in their direction. “I’d rather die.”

“Oh, you’ve made that abundantly clear darling.” Her mother caressed her face. “That’s why we’re not talking to  _you._ ” She turned towards me. 

“We want the anti-super power technology that the VSU is developing.”

Her father chipped in. “In exchange we’ll give you the antidote.”

“Her life, for a lousy piece of technology.”

“You could finally save her, just like you always wanted.”

“Just think about it.”

I wanted to argue, to fight them, to do… anything… but even as I struggled, darkness overwhelmed me, and I fell unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

##  **ERICA**

“ _Are you still bleeding?”  My mother looked down at me with a disapproving expression._

_I met her gaze without expression. I was only twelve but I knew what would happen if I spoke back. Seeming satisfied with my lack of reaction she dropped a package into my lap._

_Confused, I opened it with one hand, the other clutching a rag against my thigh which had been slashed open during fighting practice. I knew that direct pressure was my only chance at slowing down the bleeding._

_It wasn’t like they were going to take me to a hospital._

_To my surprise the package contained a few objects: antiseptic, sutures, and a small book with pictures explaining how to close wounds. I looked back up at my mother, not wanting to voice the question I wanted to ask._

_“You have thirty minutes to sew up your wounds before we move on to poisons.” Her voice was flat, her eyes making it clear what would happen if I didn’t._

_I looked down again, my eyes watering at the size of the needle. This was going to hurt._

_“You will not receive any local anesthetics or narcotics to numb the pain. “ My mother continued, noting my less than enthusiastic reaction. “Pain leads to strength, seeking relief from pain is weakness. Remember that.”_

_She walked away, leaving me to stare daggers into her back._

_One day._

_One day I would take her down. Take them both down._

_Sighing quietly to myself, I grabbed the kit, and prepared to sew on my thigh._

* * *

I woke up gasping in a strange room, my hand automatically reaching for the gun under my pillow, and meeting nothing but air. I struck out, my hand hitting a chest that was more like a brick wall. Panicked, I reared back to attack again.

“It’s okay, Erica! It’s me!” A familiar voice settled me enough to pause, to study my surroundings. We were in a large, open apartment, brightly lit. I was on a couch with someone sitting beside me, grasping my ankle. 

It was Henry.  I let out a small sigh of relief. 

“What are you doing?” He had a jar of ointment on the table beside him, was applying it to my leg. 

“You had a burn from the trap that they… from the electrified floor. The captain said you wouldn’t want to go to the hospital, so when the field doctor cleared you I brought you back to my apartment.” 

He seemed uncomfortable, letting go of my leg and gently placing it back on the couch. 

“I would have brought you to your place so you could be in familiar surroundings but I obviously don’t know where you live and I didn’t know what else to do…Crap.” He hit his forehead. “I’m making a mess out of this.”

“What’s in the ointment.” 

“It’s nothing dangerous!” He was quick to defend himself, although I really was only asking out of curiosity rather than suspicion. “It’s a pain relieving ointment for the light burns.  I didn’t want you to be hurting when you woke up!” 

His open face along with his simple explanation startled me. When was the last time someone had tried to keep me from hurting, tried to take pain away instead of causing it? It didn’t take long for me to remember. It was back when we were kids and still thought we were brother and sister. 

Henry always did worry whenever I got hurt. 

I sat up, testing my arms and legs, mildly surprised that I felt no discomfort with the movement despite the burns from my parents’ trap. 

_Pain leads to strength, seeking relief from pain is weakness._

My mother’s words mocked me, but they were quickly pushed to the back of my mind with his next question. 

“They said you poisoned yourself?”

I sucked in a breath, only now remembering what my parents had said before I lost consciousness. 

_She shouldn’t have much longer._

“They were lying right?” Henry’s face was pale, his gaze nervously looking me over as if expecting me to fall over any minute. “You aren’t dying from a poison, that was just a trick, right?”

I stared down at my hands. “What else did they tell you?” 

I couldn’t remember anything after telling them I would rather die. They wouldn’t have stopped there. 

“Please, Erica, please tell me they were lying.” There were tears in his eyes, but I ignored them.

“What did they want in exchange for the antidote?”

“…” His face turned blank, he avoided my gaze. 

“Hen…Jarrod. What. Did. They. Want?” 

A long sigh escaped him. “I wish our lives had been different.” He reached out, grabbing my unresisting hands in his own, turning them over. His thumbs rubbed across my forearms, where multiple scars from years of fighting and torture crisscrossed. “I wish I had never left. Wish I had suffered with you sometimes.”

“Jarrod…”

“Wish I had taken you with me, more.” He looked up at the ceiling, and then closed his eyes, tears escaping from the shut lids. “Wish I hadn’t been a self-centered prick who wanted to be strong before I came back. Wish I had saved you, or died trying.”

“Jarrod…”

He let go of my hands, hid his face behind his own, but tears continued to fall. “No one deserves what you’ve gone through. No one deserves to live a long happy life more than you.”

My vision blurred. Was I crying too?

“Henry…”

“You were my sister, my protector, my other half. You meant everything… still mean everything to me.” He stood up, and walked towards the door. “I won’t let you die. Not while I’m still breathing.”

I tried to call out one last time, but he was already gone.

* * *

## 

##  **HENRY/JARROD**

I left her behind, my mind racing, feeling strangely calm despite the emotions that had threatened to overwhelm me just moments before.

I wasn’t going to fail her again. 

But to pull it off, I needed a few things. 

The anti-super power technology her parents wanted. A location. And to see the Captain.

First, the anti-super weapon. I sighed quietly, turning towards the Hero Assistance Unit Headquarters. 

Fortunately, being a hero had its perks. I knew a guy.

* * *

“Hey Jarrod!” 

Greg was practically jumping up and down with excitement, his hands clutching a black briefcase. “I’m so glad you called, I was worried after that raid I did went south that you wouldn’t want my help ever again!” 

 _The raid?_  My forehead wrinkled as I tried to puzzle that out briefly, before realizing that I had given him a location of a base as part of Erica’s plot to unmask the mole. I thought we had contacted everyone else the next morning to clarify that the “raid” was off… but I guessed we missed someone. 

_Had he gone to a supervillain base all by himself?_

Shrugging mentally, I decided not to ask further. 

“Did you bring what I asked?”

“Of course, Jarrod! What else is the HAU for if not to assist heroes like yourself?” His groveling set my teeth on edge, made worse by what I knew he had tried to do to Erica. Of course, the moment he had tried to touch her she had put him in the ICU. 

I smiled at the thought, and Greg beamed back at me, thinking I was happy about his words. 

“Here it is!” He opened up the briefcase in his hands. “The Anti-super power gun! VSU had been working on the technology for a while now, but HAU took over since the VSU is just small time agents anyways.” He snorted loudly, apparently forgetting that he had once been part of the Villain Suppression Unit and had been kicked out for sexual harassment. 

I checked the weapon, a sleek, silver appearing gun. The muzzle was oddly shaped. “Does it shoot bullets?” 

“Nope! It shoots a dart, that injects the anti-super power serum.” He pointed to the small box of ammo. “It is made to look almost exactly like the HAU stun dart weapon, so you need to be careful..” He laughed loudly. “Don’t want to accidentally shoot someone with one of these puppies instead of a stun dart or something.” 

I looked at the dart closely, with a morbid fascination. “Is there an antidote for the anti-super power serum?” 

“They’ve been working on it, but no luck so far!” Greg paused, seeming slightly uncomfortable for the first time. “Hey, Jarrod? What are you going to use this for? I can take it out of the HAU because I’m on the security team, but it needs to be back in 24 hours.”

I snapped the briefcase closed, smiling brightly. “No worries. That’s plenty of time.” 

Leaving him behind, my hand tightly clutching the handle of the briefcase, I moved on, a plan forming in my mind. 

I had the weapon. 

All I needed was a way to contact the Shadow Couple.

Which meant I needed to have a little talk with my younger brother. 

* * *

 “What do you want?” 

My brother looked tired, as he eyed me with suspicion. We were in a private visiting room, another perk to being a super-hero. I guess even with Michael’s powers of invisibility and speed they didn’t think he could get past me to escape.

Which worked for me. I wanted the privacy. 

“I’ve given up on asking you why you never helped Erica, a little girl who was suffering.” I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. “At first I thought maybe you were scared. You didn’t want to tell me my ‘sister’ was being hurt. I even thought that maybe the Shadow Couple captured you as a child and forced you to work on their side.”

“…” Michael warily said nothing. I continued on as if talking to myself. 

“But then, I thought back to all our ‘training fights’ before I regained my powers. Back to how mom and dad treated you like glass once I was stronger than you. How I was ‘the weakling’ when I couldn’t beat you, but I was ‘a bully’ once I could… All of that started to make sense, and I came to a conclusion.”

I leaned forward, a slight smile on my face. 

“You are a coward. A coward who enjoys watching people weaker than you suffer.”

“ You son of a…” Michael’s face contorted with rage, he reached towards me, only to break off on a squeal of pain as I grabbed his hand in my own. I squeezed until the bones started fracturing into multiple pieces. 

“It hurts, doesn’t it? It hurt me when you broke my bones too. All those ‘training accidents’ when we were kids. You were quite a sadistic little bastard.”

Michael tried to pull his hand away, his face pale and sweating with the pain. 

“I forgive you though. We were kids. Our parents enabled you, taught you to bully the weak and cower before the strong. A strange lesson for a super hero, but I don’t really think any of family qualify for a term like ‘hero.’”

“If you forgive me, then let go…” He forced the words out with a groan of agony. 

I tightened my hand instead, feeling a few more satisfying cracks. “I forgive you for what you did to  _me._ What you did to Erica on the other hand…”

“PLEASE!” 

“I’ll stop when you tell me how to contact the Shadow Couple.”  I grinned as he shook his head slightly and shifted my grip to hold more of his hand. “Otherwise I’ll break every bone in your hand one by one, and then move onto the next. You’re in with a hero, no one will even bother to check on you. We can be here for a very, very long time.”

My smile turned bitter as he quickly spit out a number that would reach them. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard.”

I fired my weapon under the table. 

He leaned forward with a groan as the dart struck Michael in the stomach.

“What did you…?”

I quickly put the weapon back in the hidden holster under my pant leg. Slightly dismayed but relieved at how easily I had snuck it past security, I leaned over the table, reaching out to remove the dart and stored that as well. 

“That was the ‘anti-super power weapon’ the Shadow Couple is looking for.” I smiled. “I thought I would test it out before handing it over. 

Michael shook his head. “ARE YOU CRAZY! You can’t give them technology like this! They’ll destroy everything!”

I raised an eyebrow. “So its okay for you to help them for money, but not okay for me to help them to save someone’s life?”

“Save… “ He trailed off, his eyes narrowing. “You’re doing it for that bit…” I pushed the table lightly, and it flew into his stomach, cutting off his words. 

“Don’t worry about the world, brother dearest. You have much bigger problems.” I stood up, straightening out my jacket with a casual motion. 

“I’ve arranged for you to be transferred.”

Michael mouthed a single word.  _Where_.

“Blood Row.” I smiled as his eyes grew wide.

Blood Row. The most notorious layer of prison for the worst kind of criminals. The kind that hated heroes the most. 

“Don’t worry, they are well aware that you were working for the Shadow Couple… and betrayed them to get a better deal. You should fit in nicely there. Especially now that your powers are gone.”

I turned towards the door and knocked, waiting for it to open. 

“Wait!” His voice cracked on the word. I turned back towards him with a small hint of curiosity. 

“Blood row is… death sentence… please… I’m your brother.” He was struggling to talk after the blow from the table but he pushed on, his face desperate. 

I watched him silently for a few moments.  “Sorry, I’ve come to the realization that despite being a superhero, I’m not all powerful. I can only protect one person. And she deserves it a hell of a lot more than you.” 

The door opened, and I walked out. 

“WAAAIT!” 

I didn’t turn back again.

* * *

 

##  **ERICA**

“Where is he?!” I slammed my fists on the Captain’s desk. 

He raised an eyebrow, looking up at me with a sarcastic grin. “Hello to you too.” 

“Cut the crap, Captain.” I was not in the mood to joke. “I’ve been following Hen… Jarrod’s tracks all day. He stopped by the HAU, picked something up. He stopped by the prison and saw his brother, and then he came here. What did he tell you?”

“Would you believe it if I said he didn’t tell me anything?”

“No.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t either.” He looked me in the eye. “He told me the truth. About the poison.”

I sank down into a nearby chair. “Crap.”

“Yeah.” He glared at me. “Were you ever going to tell me that you were dying?” 

I shrugged. “Probably not.”

“Great.”

“At least I’m honest.”

“In some ways, I guess.” He leaned back, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “Is this why you’ve been so desperate to put away as many villains as possible these last few years?”

I waved a hand dismissively. “We can pick apart my psychological motivations at a later date. I want to know where he is right now.”

“I don’t know.” He held up a finger, stopping me before I could argue. “And that IS the truth. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going, wouldn’t risk his plan going off course.” 

My stomach dropped. “What is his plan?”

“Here.” He handed me a letter. “Everything he told me should be in here.” 

I opened it with trembling fingers, scanning over the contents quickly before tearing it in half.

“We have to stop him.”

“It’s too late.” The captain sighed. “By the time he had come to talk to me, he had already sealed his fate. There was nothing I could do but let him try to save you.”

I laughed, but it sounded more like a sob as it caught in my chest. “It won’t work. They’ll kill him.” 

He nodded. “They might.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?” 

“Because I couldn’t.” 

“You  _wouldn’t_.”

He shrugged. “Maybe so. He and I happen to agree on something, though.”

“What?” 

“That you’re worth saving.” 

I stood up, my feet unsteady. “And if I tell you I’m not going to let him die?”

He clapped my shoulder, handing me a tracking device. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I walked out of the office, one thought and one thought only dominating my mind.

I would save him. 

* * *

## 

##  **HENRY/ JARROD**

“That didn’t take long.” The woman I had once thought was my mother smiled with the slightest hint of exasperation. 

I didn’t smile back. I simply clutched the black case tighter. “ _She_  doesn’t have long. I wouldn’t waste time.”

“Honestly,” The man sighed, turning to his wife. “If we’d known it was so easy to get a hold of this technology… I feel like we wasted years of planning.” 

She patted his shoulder. “It’s fine dear, what matters is that we win in the end.” 

Turning on a device in her hand, her smile widened when it beeped and flashed green. “You didn’t lie and came alone. I’m impressed.”

I shrugged. “I won’t risk her not getting the antidote.” 

“Indeed. Then I assume you brought the anti-super power device?” 

I nodded, holding up the briefcase. “Here.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You open it.”

I set the case on the ground, opening the lid to reveal the dart gun and ammo. 

He smiled. “Looks good so far.” He sighed. “Take the gun out slowly and hand it to me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think I trapped the case?”

“I trust no one.” 

“I won’t risk Erica not getting the antidote.”

“So you’ve said. Take out the weapon. Slowly.”

I lifted the weapon by the muzzle, pointing it at myself and handing it handle first to the man. He grasped it, his hand tightening around it with a satisfied expression. 

“And the ammo next.” 

I lifted the case of darts, handing it to the woman. She lifted one out, studying it closely. “Such a powerful little weapon, in such a little dart.” 

“Will you give her the antidote now?” My voice sounded weak, defeated. 

She raised an eyebrow. “Not so fast. How do we know you didn’t give us something fake?” She handed it to her husband who loaded the dart into the gun. 

“I didn’t…”

“I know, I know… you wouldn’t risk her not getting the antidote, blah blah blah.” The man pointed the gun at me with a smile. “Only one way to find out.” 

The dart hit my arm. I pulled it out with a groan. They both studied me a moment. 

“Did it work?”

“How could we tell? It’s not like there would be a flash of light or something to say he’s lost his powers.”

The woman chuckled. “I have an idea.”

I fell to the ground, A knife in my left chest. 

“Nice throw, Honey!”

“Thanks!” She stepped closer, looking at me closely. Reaching down, she slowly pulled the knife out. “It’s not specially coated like the anti-super darts. If he still had his powers it shouldn’t have penetrated his skin so easily.”

“He lost his powers?” The man whistled. “What a fool. He gave us exactly what we asked for.”

I curled up in a ball on the ground, my hands clutching the bleeding wound in my chest. I was having trouble breathing, was my lung collapsed? 

“An-Antidote…”

The man rolled his eyes. “So persistent. But we did make a promise.” Pressing a button on his belt, a screen behind him turned on. It was live security camera footage, showing the front lobby of the VSU. A man dropped a package off at the front desk dressed as a courier, before turning and walking out with a quick wink to the camera. “There. The antidote is delivered to her doorstep. Beyond our reach.” He smiled. “Congratulations. You saved her. Just like you wanted.”

The woman leaned over me, using her foot to turn me onto my back. “Want to know a real kicker of a secret though?” Her grin was vicious. “We would have saved her either way.”

“Of course.”

“We love our daughter.”

“She’s to inherit the family business after all.”

“Hopefully she’ll be more inclined with you having betrayed her.”

“And dead.” The man laughed. “Don’t forget he’ll be very much dead by the time she finds him.” 

They both pull out knives, one clean, one already slick with my blood, and moved forward. 

“Fast or slow?”

“Better be fast, we have work to do with this special weapon.” He patted the dart gun at his side.

… 

**It was done.**

I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh, so hard that I started coughing up blood.  

The woman paused, disconcerted. “What’s so funny?”

“You think you have the anti-super power weapon.” I chuckled, spitting to clear my mouth before continuing. “You think I would betray her?”

The man shook his head. “You’ve obviously lost your powers, don’t lie to us.”

I grinned, feeling a wet pool start to form beneath me. “Shot myself with the REAL anti-super weapon before I came. You only have blanks.”

The woman’s face contorted as she reared back, kicking me. “YOU’RE LYING!”

“Even an idiot like me knew you would test out the weapon. My bet was that your first target would be me.” I leaned back my head on the ground, exhausted. “Turns out I was right.”

“So we gave up the antidote for nothing?” The man sighed. “Well, we were going to cure her anyways.”

“How disappointing.” 

“Let’s kill him anyways before we leave, so we haven’t wasted the trip.” She leaned over with her knife… I closed my eyes, resigned. 

“HOLD IT!” 

A loud voice called out. A familiar voice.  My eyes shot open again.

“Erica…”“SWEETIE!” 

The woman called out as the same time as me, opening her eyes wide. “How long have you been there?”

She stepped forward, her armor and weapons gleaming in the florescent lighting of the villains hideout. “Not long.”

“You missed it, dear. We mailed the antidote to the VSU! You’re saved!” 

The man shook his head. “But your dear old brother betrayed you.” He lifted the dart gun in his hand. “Gave us anti-super technology.” 

I looked over at Erica, wondering if she had seen my letter. She met my eyes briefly, and then looked up. “Is that so?”

“Yes of course. What a disappointment he is. So weak.” The woman reached out to touch her. “You should join us, dear. You belong with your family.”

Erica smiled. “You’re right. I do.”

With that, she kicked her mother across the room. 

BAM! She hit a wall of computers, sliding to the floor with a groan. 

The man sighed. “You never learn.”

“No.” Erica’s smile only grew wider. “You two are the ones who never learn. Falling for the same trick twice.”

“What do you…?” Mid-sentence, the two collapsed on the ground, unable to stand or move. I sighed with relief as Erica stepped closer, helping me to my feet. 

“You’re an idiot.”

“That poison took longer than I thought.”

She glanced at her parents with a sigh. “The same poison I used all those years ago. I can’t believe the Captain let you have the only sample. Where did you put it? On the dart gun?”

I grinned. “No, on the darts. I didn’t want to touch it myself.” 

“You would have died if I hadn’t made it on time.”

I started to laugh, and then groaned as the action aggravated the wound in my chest. “I guess I owe you another coffee for saving my life.” 

“And don’t you forget it.” She walked towards the Shadow Couple, her feet slowing as she neared them. I wasn’t sure what she was about to do, but unsurprisingly, I found i didn’t care.

“I won’t say anything, no matter what.” I meant it. She could hurt them; kill them. After what they had done to her, I would look the other way. 

She grinned at me. “Good to know I’m a bad influence on you.” Leaning over, she injected something in each of their arms. 

“It’s a capsule.” She informed them seriously. “Contains a deadly poison. Set only to release if I press a button.”

“….” They stared at her in shock. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t push it… as long as you stay nicely in prison where you belong. Understand what will happen if you escape again?”

She spread her hands helplessly, then turned to grab me as I swayed on my feet, almost falling. 

“Let’s get you to the hospital.”

“What about…” I tilted my head towards the temporarily paralyzed couple. 

“My team’s got it. They’re just cleaning up the rest of the gang I took out on my way in.”

“Did I ever tell you that you’re a total badass?”

She smiled. “Oh, don’t worry, I know.”

The VSU streamed in, packing away the shadow couple as the world started spinning around me. 

“Could you stay awake, Henry?” Her voice was slightly panicked. “I can’t carry you alone.”

“Sorry I guess I’m a deadweight…” I started to apologize and then the world faded into darkness.

* * *

 

##  **ERICA**

“Why did you want to talk to me?” I asked, sipping on the office coffee and then setting it down, making a face at the bitter taste.

The captain sighed loudly. “For once in your life, would it  _kill_  you to treat me with the respect due a superior officer?”

I considered it carefully. “Yes. It might actually kill me.”

“I should fire you.” He grumbled. 

“You won’t.”

“You’re right, I won’t. Dammit.”

Shaking his head slowly, he leaned back in his chair. “I called you in here because you’re being assigned a new partner.”

SLAM!

I had been in the process of putting my feet up on his desk, and they slammed down on the floor as I sat up in shock. “Wait! I’m working with the HAU liaison, remember?”

“I remember, even if you’ve conveniently forgotten that you were the one who protested loudly and frequently about ‘babysitting a tights-wearing goodie two shoes.’ As you so eloquently put it.” 

“Still, you overruled my objections and teamed us up. So I can’t have a new partner.” I smirked. 

“You have to, since the liaison position has been terminated. “

“No. No, Henry is the liaison.” 

The Captain frowned. “Jarrod  _was_  the liaison. He has since resigned. You are working with VSU’s newest recruit.”

I blinked in shock.  _Why hadn’t he told me?_  I had been to the hospital every day while he recovered, but he had been discharged two weeks ago, and hadn’t contacted me since. Just as I was starting to plan all sorts of vaguely sinister plans for getting back at him for quitting being the liaison without telling me, a knock at the door caught my attention. 

“That must be your new partner now.” The captain gestured towards the door. “Could you let him in? His hands are probably full.”

 _What did that mean?_  I groaned and stood up, making sure my face had been configured into my best glare before opening the door. But as i saw who stood behind it, my jaw dropped.

“Henry.”

He stood in the doorway, precariously balancing three coffees in his hands. “Erica” Henry grinned, the expression causing me to smile back unconsciously. “A little help?” 

He handed me a cup, holding the other two more securely with a sigh of relief. “That one’s yours. Black, sugar, no cream.”  He placed another one on the desk. “Captain. Triple espresso, and don’t you dare tell your wife I’m getting this for you. She’s terrifying.” 

The captain drained the steaming hot coffee in one gulp, as if daring it to try to burn his mouth. “Almost strong enough.”

“And my perfectly normal drink.” He sipped at it quietly, I noticed he kept a lid on it. 

“You ordered extra sprinkles again, didn’t you?”

“No comment.” We laughed. 

As we all sat down, I studied him carefully. “So you’re the new recruit to the VSU?”

“That’s right.”

“What about hero work?” 

He shrugged helplessly. “Well, for now, I’m powerless, thanks to the anti-super power serum. They’re working on an antidote, but who knows if or when I’ll get my powers back.”

I glared at him. “It’s all your fault you lost your powers.”

“Worth it.” He was unrepentant.  “But until then, I’d like to work where I could do the most good.” He held out a hand. “As the partner of the best agent the VSU’s got.”

The captain snorted quietly, but I ignored him. Instead, I studied the hand in front of me, thinking back to a time he had made a similar gesture in this office and had been ignored. 

I had grown up learning to never trust anyone, especially heroes. 

But looking at the idiot who risked his life just to get an antidote for me, I thought that I might be ready for something new. 

I might be ready to have someone watching my back.

I reached out, and took his hand, shaking it firmly. Henry’s face lit up with a bright happy smile. 

“Let’s do it.”

“Good. Now sit down!” The captain yelled, obviously uncomfortable with the emotion in the room. “I have your next assignment, and I would appreciate it if you could do it without remodeling the villain lair using the unconscious bodies of the henchmen like last time… not that I’m naming names… Erica.” 

Laughing, we took down the information, and headed out of the VSU headquarters, walking side by side. 

Teammates.

Partners. 

Family. 


End file.
